Meristems: the Construction Sites

Meristems: the Construction Sites

Plant growth requires centers of development which are meristems. Apicalmeristems are centers of plant development located on the very ends of roots(RAM) and stems (SAM). They produce intermediate meristems (like procam-bium) which form all primary tissues. Thelateral meristem or cambium orig-inates from the procambium which in turn originates from apical meristems. It usually arises between two vascular tissues and its main functions are thicken-ing and producing secondary vascular tissues.

Other meristems include: intercalary which elongate stems from the “mid-dle”, marginal which are responsible for leaf development and repair meris-tems arising around wounds, they also control vegetative reproduction.